The final days in Florence were rich in art and history. We took in the dramatic art of the Ufizzi Gallery. Some art pieces dated back to the 1200’s! It was amazing to see the progression and ability in art as it transpires through each new century. Renaissance art is often very gory and at times quite explicit with weird ‘religious’ interpretation. Not my favourite in style but worth seeing. To be able to see some of the ‘masters’ of art, knowing their influence on the development of art, seeing their pictures and sculptures come alive it is moving even if it is not my ‘style’. We also got to see the great ‘David’ statue by Michaelangelo. Roger and I were both speechless due to the size of this statue. How could someone carve this out of a block of marble? To see up close the delicate details the artist was able to carve such as vanes in the arm and emotion in his eyes. Stunning!

Florence gave the girls and I the chance to get caught up…like on laundry, we got Davina all caught up with sleep, ate some good home prepared food, and I got a hair cut! Marion watched movies (which is a great treat in our home) Marion said after one of her movies “Mom I love holidays, I even get to watch movies”! We did some more shopping, finding lots of fun things to send home to family. I bought myself a wonderful leather bag…ohhhhhhhhhhh…it is so nice! Perfect for hauling all the blankies and books and baby things we need when we fly! Honestly, I love the bag! One morning as the girls and I walked we unexpectedly came upon the ‘flower market’ I guess once a week all the flower sellers come into the town and sell the fresh flowers…now that’s art! The girls and I decided on the red roses! If any of you visited my home in Calgary you will remember that my home was never absent of roses……the flower, that is. Well I have not had roses on my table since Malaysia. We three girls raced home filled the wine urn with water and all fussed over the arrangement. We then just stood back and stared….. Marion kept sighing this content little sigh ever time she looked at them…. I sighed also!

Much to the girls delight there was a carousel right in the centre square. It was all lit up at night and every evening we were sure to make the trek to the carousel for a fairy-tale ride.

Roger’s course was wonderful. He was very excited to learn that the turbine engines he is responsible for in Nigeria (to process oil and gas) are the same engines that are used on the Stealth Bomber and Boeing 747! He came home with a binder thicker then a textbook full of charts and numbers and all things that make engineers really excited!

Florence was wonderful. But we missed Dad and Mom so early Saturday morning Rome bound we were!


We were too busy shopping and looking at art to take pictures of the city! Actually the bests parts of Florence are the art gallery's where you can't take pictures anyway. Here are just a couple shots.




Rosaleen's flowers.


Davina's boots.




Watching movies on the IPod.